Issue: pal shenmue 2/vgabox/lcd monitor

[rent-a-hero]

Hi there!

Need some help here. I just remembered that I never again had finished Shenmue 2 since I bought an original PAL version. I started it a year ago, just got the three medals, and halted it. Now I want to return to it but I am having a problem.
I have a ntsc dreamcast, a retro-bit vgabox, and a lcd monitor with only vga connection. I was playing it before through a crt tv and the simple rca video connection, but vga is incomparable, I dont want to go back.
VGA works fine with my games, including my japanese ones, using the dc-x boot disc. But not Shenmue 2, the only european game I have.

When I try to play it on a plasma tv or a crt tv (both just have component/rca video connections, plus hdmi for the plasma, and I have only the rca cable and vgabox for my DC, so I tested it through the rca cable), the dc-x screen shows fine, I even see that the disc have options to set. And the game boots and shows on tv normally. Well, a lot blurred, since the simple video...

On my monitor a strange thing happens. The screen goes black when the dc-x boots (the monitor shows a message of "unoptimized resolution"), shows normally the "produced by sega", and goes black again and shows nothing if I dont press any button. But there is sound, the game had booted.
I tried to set the options when connected the cable on my monitor, same thing, sound and no image.

I tried to use utopia 1.2 too, it have no options, and do exactly as dc-x.

So, it is possible to play shenmue 2 through vga?
My other choice is use an vga/hdmi or vga/component to play it on my tv, would it work? Any sugestions?

Thanks!

[mazonemayu]

Dc-x: put disk in dreamcast and press start > screen goes black > wait until disk stops spinning > replace with game disk of choice > close lid > wait

[rent-a-hero]

Using the dc-x in this way, not pressing nothing, as I usually do with my japanese games, had not worked with shenmue II with vga. The game boots but I have no image, which i got only when using the simple yellow video cable.

[mazonemayu]

That's odd, coz it is vga compatible...have you tried on another DC?

[rent-a-hero]

I dont have other dcs available... I tried to set the dc-x options on tv and switch the box to vga monitor, no success, and tried to swap entirely the cable after setting the options, idem. Maybe it could work, but I suspect the timing is very strict. I tried to set the dc-x options even without seeing them, but it is a big annoyance, and boot, reboot, swap... to much risk to wear something.

I read a little, it seems the recent monitors dont support slower frequencies, maybe my only choice would be getting a vga/hdmi or component converter and play it on my tv, until I get a hdmi monitor. Or try another boot disc that shows something through vga, but I only know utopia and dc-x.

[Aleron Ives]

Try BlueCrab's PSO boot disc or a CodeBreaker. A GameShark might also work.

[krssn]

Simple mod to change your DC's region...

http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/dreamcast-region-change/

That way you can work without DC-X making things simpler.

Take note of the update in the description and do not do this mod without adding a switch. You're reprogramming part of a chip that normally isn't meant to be tinkered with. So it's best to be able to cut that connection once you changed regions...

[rent-a-hero]

I will try these discs, I think that they show no region option, but anyway. If a dcx version which main screen show fine on vga exists, I would like to know too, so I could try its options actually seeing what I would be doing.

I dont feel confortable modding my only working dc... maybe i could try it on my dead dc, on which I intend to do the hdd mod as well, someday.

I didnt know that the region would interfer with vga, i thought this standard as totally independent from this.

[Aleron Ives]

All DC games should be the same resolution over VGA, but the fact that Shenmue II is your only PAL game would indicate that your monitors won't accept 50 Hz input. (I assume Shenmue II doesn't have a PAL60 mode to test that explanation.) The best test I can think of would be to try another PAL game to see if it also fails over VGA. If it does, there's no guarantee that your TV would accept a 50 Hz signal over HDMI or component, either, so I wouldn't invest in extra hardware unless you're sure that it's going to work.

[rent-a-hero]

Issue resolved!

I tried the codebreaker. It was hard to find a working file, until I got the one from this link:

http://segahub.org/index.php?topic=2508.0

The interface isnt intuitive, but it worked fine, no settings needed, just start game, which now runs fine at 60 fps!

Thanks everyone!